Company in Solitude
by littlelight17
Summary: She hated her life and spent most of it alone. She spends her afternoons in the woods hiding from the world. She then meets a dog, who she christens snappy and her world becomes a little brighter.


**Not mine**

She hated her life. Not in an "I just want it all to be over." kind of way more in "Let's get in the car and see where the road takes me." kind of way. Not that that would ever happen. Despite being sixteen Meredith didn't have a license, or a car, and despite being a bit of daydreamer she had enough common sense to know that a young girl running away with no money or protection was asking for trouble. She didn't want trouble; she just wanted to feel a little less like a nobody. She knew she wasn't alone in that, enough people related to Dickinson's poem. She also knew that if the number of people who knew her name could be counted on her fingers in Forks, what had to be the smallest town on the Olympic peninsula, there was little hope for her anywhere else.

Sophomore year she started going to the woods after school instead of going home- it wasn't like her parents were there to miss her, what with them always away for work or visiting someone she'd never met. She'd bring a book and water bottle then climb a tree to read, by November she could climb pretty high.

Meredith first saw the dog in January. Having seen a smudge of sand colored fur in her peripheral she looked down. She'd smiled and said "Hey, boy" taking a 50/50 shot at the gender of the canine. "What are you doing here all alone?" as the dog started to walk away she'd surprised herself with the desperation in her voice as the word tumbled out of her mouth "Please, don't go. I can't hurt you all the way up here can I?" The dog seemed to feel sorry for her or something as it padded back to the tree and curled up at the base. "Thank you." She said, slightly worried that she'd just begged a dog for company but thankful regardless. The dog left an hour later and Meredith followed suit.

The next day the dog came back and sat yet again at the base of her tree. She'd talked to him a little asked if he'd ever felt like he was useless, like no one cared whether he came or went, she'd then proceeded to berate herself out loud for asking a dog philosophical questions. She felt better nonetheless.

A week later, the meeting of the two having been made a routine, Meredith decided the dog needed a name. She suggested Honey, Sweetie Pie, and Leroy the first two at which he growled playfully the third at which he looked up as if trying to see her to give her a look of exasperation. She'd laughed and said "What about Snappy". To that he'd barked happily.

Her life continued in that way: get up, endure school, go to the woods, meet up with Snappy, go home, do homework, eat, sleep. Part of her was worried about the fact that the highlight of her day was taking to a dog. If it was unhealthy when girls' lives revolved around their boyfriends it had to be unhealthy that hers revolved around Snappy. The other part of her said screw it he's the only consistently happy thing in your life and it's not like you leaving the world for him. You were never a part of the world anyway. She listened to her latter half. As the meetings continued she poured her heart out to Snappy, she told him everything in her life and every problem she had. Luckly he didn't seem to mind.

One day in March she'd been too tired to climb the tree and instead opted to stay on the ground. She'd heard a couple of howls go through the forest and was starting to get worried, then Snappy came barreling in. He was so much bigger that she'd thought, though it made sense since she could see him all the way from the tree and still tell he was a dog. He was also a bit- or a lot- more like a wolf then she'd assumed. What surprised her the most was that he'd stopped cold in his tracks when he saw her and starred at her with a dazed look _Why _she thought_ its not like I'm anything special or it's the first time he's seen me _She thought about that for a second and looked up, her branch was pretty far from here _okay maybe it is but still kinda creepy having a dog stare at you with those very human eyes….. _He then proceeded to shake his head and push her with his snout until she was standing and continued to push her toward her house "What is it boy? Why do I need to go home? Is something happening? Why am I asking a dog as if he can answer? Okay boy I'm leaving." And she did. Just not before noticing a bundle tied to his hind leg.

Now Meredith wasn't a superstitious person. She might read a little more fantasy then was strictly normal but she had a very firm grip on reality. Despite this she wasn't one to ignore what she'd witnessed. That's dog had been way too big and looked far too much like a wolf to be a normal dog. And his eyes, they had been that of human, she was sure. She shook her head, maybe she needed some sleep.

Despite telling herself this, she was still rolling everything over in her head a week later when she returned to her tree. She sat at the base of the tree and waited for Snappy. When he came in she motioned toward herself until he laid his head in her lap. She petted him contently as she tried to see what was tied to his back leg. After half an hour of careful squirming and neck craning she came to the conclusion it was a pair of shorts, which made absolutely no sense.

She added this to her compiled information she had on him and after going over their previous visits she added the howling she'd heard. Putting this all together she came to two conclusions a) she was insane and had far too much time on her hands and b) the dog was also sometimes human, maybe or was in a pack of giant dogs, or a pack of giant human/dogs… maybe? It sounded crazy-okay it was crazy but so was the idea of the dog the size of a bear with human eyes.

She figured she better just ask. Despite the simplicity of her plan it took more time than it should have to execute. She finally asked, well over a week later, after convincing herself if she was wrong( which was highly likely) Snappy wouldn't know what she was talking about. So one Tuesday, in the middle of April, she asked, while petting Snappy, "So when are you going to show me your human form? I'm curious, though I'd appreciate you wearing pants…."

Snappy looked up at her, his jaw dropping and his eyes showing unsuppressed horror. "Oh, I didn't tell anyone, they'd think I'm crazy. Which I probably am. Now go change, please. It's just me."

With that the dog took off only to reappear minutes later in the form of a very attractive native American, who had to of been over six feet tall. Meredith started to be a little humiliated about everything she'd said so she covered it with what was probably an inappropriate comment.

"Indian, guess that makes sense." Meredith said in reference to how close they were to the reservation.

The boy laughed and smiled a smile that lit up the whole forest "I'm Seth. Seth Clearwater."

"Nice to meet you, Seth. Why don't we take a walk and you can explain the whole wolf thing to me?" She said with a laugh, suppressing a blush.

"Sounds good. Let's start with imprinting….


End file.
